OPS Participates in Movember at WIU

November 15, 2013

MACOMB, IL - - Each November, the faces of many men across the U.S. start to become a little hairier, including the officers at Western Illinois University’s Office of Public Safety (OPS). Many of them are taking advantage of the Movember movement to bring awareness to men’s health.

According to Movember’s website, us.movember.com, the global charity encourages men to grow a mustache for the 30-days of November and ask friends and family to donate to their efforts. While raising money, they are also raising awareness of men’s health issues by prompting conversation wherever they go.

OPS Director Scott Harris is allowing the officers to violate their mustache grooming standards by allowing them to grow their mustaches beyond the corners of the mouth.

“I read through some of the stats listed on the Movember website, and I found out that men who sit more than six hours a day have an 18 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 7.8 percent increased chance of dying from diabetes compared with someone who sits for three hours or less a day. As a police officer, we are either sitting in a squad car or writing reports the majority of the day,” said OPS Sergeant Derek Watts

This is the first year the officers are participating as a group for Movember, and they are hoping to make it an annual event. Numerous officers also annually participate in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics, Polar Plunge for Illinois Special Olympics and St. Baldrick’s, which raises money for childhood cancer research.